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[0:00] John 4.24 John 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

[0:18] ! It is one of the highest occupations we can engage in.

[0:36] Worship, such a precious thing. And we read that God looks for worshippers, true worshippers. In John 4.23 The Lord Jesus is speaking to the woman here and saying The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

[0:56] For the Father seeketh such to worship him. So we're looking at the subject of worship. What is worship? What is worship? First let's look at this.

[1:08] What worship is not. Some would consider worship is all about what they term the worship event. As if it's something you come to and then you leave behind.

[1:18] Something that can be quite conjured up and artificial, careless and human-centered. Some put an emphasis on worship that it's all about what's showy and spectacular.

[1:30] On the other extreme you've got some who think worship is about what is routine and can be lifeless and empty. In some churches the worship is all about the performers, the performance, the platform.

[1:45] It can be very shallow when it's all about what's external and what's ostentatious sometimes. Worship is not meant to be a fleshly exercise or event but a spiritual one.

[2:01] A spiritual one. It's about glorifying God. It's about honouring him, delighting in him, adoring him. It's about being led by the spirit. By being God glorifying.

[2:12] It's a spiritual activity, an act of faith and truth together. And one definition someone has put of worship. Worship is the specific act of ascribing to God the glory, the majesty, the honour and the worthiness which are his.

[2:31] Worship as another defines it is to give homage, honour, reverence, respect, adoration, praise or glory. For Christians worship is a believer's response to what God has revealed of himself.

[2:48] It's our standing in awe of him. It's our gratitude. It's our expressing his worthiness, his greatness, his goodness. It's about appropriating that response to his person, to his provision, his power, his promises and his plan as someone has put it.

[3:07] It's that fundamental response of our being. And the key elements of worship, the Lord Jesus spells out, in spirit and in truth.

[3:19] The fundamentals, the must-haves of worship is in spirit and in truth. Worship must engage us in that spiritual plane as well as have that realm of God's truth.

[3:32] God is holy. He's a jealous God. And true worship must have that aura of him, that reverence of him, that's founded in what is spiritual and what is true.

[3:45] Someone has said to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God. To feed the mind with the truth of God. To purge the imagination with the beauty of God.

[3:58] To open the heart to the love of God. To devote the will to the purpose of God. Worship, it's so all-consuming. It's so all-encompassing.

[4:11] And when we look at worship, we need to ask ourselves, what does worship look like in the Bible? What is the essence of worship?

[4:22] What is the heart of it? And what does the Bible say about worship? Psalm 14, 50 verse 6, it says, Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.

[4:34] Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 47, it says, Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto our King. Sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth.

[4:47] Sing ye praises with understanding. God wants us to worship Him with our whole heart. As David cried out in Psalm 86, verse 12.

[4:58] He says, I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. And I will glorify thy name forevermore. How our heart should be like David's heart.

[5:09] As Tozer put it, we must never rest until everything inside us worships God. Never rest until everything inside us worships God.

[5:24] What is worship? Secondly, why? Why are we to worship? Why are we to worship? Worship is an expression of our love relationship to Him.

[5:34] Someone has said, Of all the things Christ wants for us, loving Him and focusing our attention on Him are the most important. Loving Him and focusing our attention on Him are the most important.

[5:47] Worship. Worship. It's fundamental to our faith. Because God is worthy of our worship. That's the sense of the English word, Worship. It's got that sense of worth-a-ship.

[5:59] We're giving worth to God. We're valuing Him. We're esteeming Him. Because He is worthy of our praise. Psalm 29, verse 2, it says, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.

[6:16] Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God alone is worthy of our worship, of our honour and glory and praise. Worship is acknowledging His greatness.

[6:29] Why are we to worship? We should have that esteem of Him, that worth of Him, that He is worthy. Thirdly, how? How are we to worship? Of course, there's different lines about many elements of worship, but there's some fundamentals of that.

[6:46] And there's some worship which is not received by God. And that's an important consideration too. In Amos 5, we see the prophet tells God's people, He actually hated their worship.

[7:00] And so it's important to be aware of this fact, that some worship is not worthy of the one that we accord worship to.

[7:12] We ought to be careful of that, that our worship is pleasing unto the Lord. That is the fundamental. In Amos 5, verse 21, the Lord says, I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smelt in your solemn assemblies, though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings.

[7:32] I will not accept them. Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy vials.

[7:43] Sorry, I'll say that again. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials. In other words, musical instruments. So there's a sense where the Lord says, I hate, I despise it.

[7:58] Take away from me the noise of it. I will not hear it. So it's important that we get the worship right. It's critical that we get the worship right. So how then are we to worship?

[8:11] We are to worship by the blood, by the blood of Jesus our Saviour. We worship because the blood has given us entry. It's made the veil torn.

[8:21] It's opened the gate, as it were. There's no physical temple for us to go today. Otherwise, we'd all be going on pilgrimages, wouldn't we? To go to a special place, to a special building, as if we had to go to a special temple to worship God.

[8:38] It's not so anymore because each one of you are living temples, just as precious and as valuable as that physical temple was in its day. And that each one of us individually can come in, entering in, into the very holiest by the blood of Jesus.

[8:56] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 10, verse 19. So each one of you have a wonderful access.

[9:07] You don't have to have a special certificate or come from a certain lineage or tribe or have certain training or qualifications that each one of you are believer priests that can enter in and have access today by virtue of the blood.

[9:23] So we are to worship by the blood. We are to worship by the spirit. Worship by the spirit of God. In Philippians 3, it says in verse 3, that we worship God in the spirit.

[9:35] We worship God in the spirit. No longer through the mindset of the old covenant. We worship God by the spirit. So how are we to worship?

[9:47] The Lord Jesus says, God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Our worship must be what? Is led by the spirit, inspired by the spirit, provoked by the spirit of God.

[10:02] Not all worship of God is in the spirit. What's the opposite of in the spirit? In the flesh. In the flesh. Sadly, much of what is called worship today is the flesh.

[10:16] The flesh is actually man himself in the power of his own will of the flesh. And the flesh can make an impact on all of our domains of life and every impact, every sphere of life, the flesh is something we've got to battle.

[10:32] All of us, especially me, all of us have to battle the flesh. And the flesh can intrude into that which is meant to be sacred and unto God. The flesh battles with the spirit.

[10:46] And Satan too, craves our worship. As we read in Matthew 4, verse 10, he even wanted the Lord Jesus to worship him.

[10:57] But the Lord Jesus just said, It is written. Matthew 4, 10, Then Jesus said unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt love, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

[11:14] Worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. So, our worship, the Lord Jesus said, is only due unto the Lord thy God.

[11:25] It's interesting through Matthew how worship crops up quite a lot. As I've referred to before. Matthew 2, verse 11, The wise men, it says, they fell down and worshipped him.

[11:40] Matthew 2, verse 11, The leper, Matthew 8, verse 2, A leper came and worshipped him. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. A certain ruler, Matthew 9, verse 18, worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

[11:58] He came and worshipped him. Matthew 14, 33, The disciples, it says, They that were in the ship came and worshipped him. Matthew 15, 25, The woman of Canaan, Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

[12:13] The mother of Zebedee's children, in Matthew 20, verse 20, With her sons came worshipping him. The two Marys, in Matthew 20, verse 20, worshipping him.

[12:27] Matthew 28, 17, The disciples again, They saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Interesting, isn't it? In that very same gospel, the Lord Jesus says, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only, shalt thou worship.

[12:45] And yet, right through the gospel, many people worshipped Jesus, and he didn't refuse their worship. Because we see in times, where angels refused worship, the Lord Jesus never refused worship.

[12:57] Why? Because he is due worship. Worship is due unto him. And so we see that Satan, it's like Satan was jealous, of the Lord Jesus, who was due worship. In fact, Satan has a relation, with music.

[13:10] There's a certain relationship, between Satan, and music. So this should make us think, carefully, about that domain, of music. As an angel, Satan, would have taken part, in worship.

[13:27] It's not spelled out, but we could assume that. Some consider that, Lucifer, or Satan, had authority, in the area of music. Because he was one, of the leading angels.

[13:38] In Isaiah 14, verse 11, onwards, we read of Lucifer, and about the noise, of his vials. In other words, stringed instruments, of worship. So Lucifer, was connected, with vials, with these instruments, of worship.

[13:53] You know, vials, violin. There was an element, of the stringed instruments, that were connected, with Satan, or Lucifer, in Isaiah 14, verse 11. And Ezekiel 28, verse 13.

[14:05] We read of this, same being, of the workmanship, of his, timbrels, and pipes. Timbrels, tambourines. Timbrels, and pipes, flutes.

[14:18] So we see, it's interesting, to consider, isn't it? Satan is connected, in other words, with the tambourine, the flute, and the harp, with stringed instruments.

[14:29] Clearly, Satan, was a musical being. Someone has put it, Lucifer was basically, a walking, talking, musical instrument. It's interesting, isn't it?

[14:40] It was part of his person, that is how he was described, in those verses. Isaiah 14, 11, and Ezekiel 28, 13.

[14:52] So, it's no wonder today, I put it to you, as I see it, that Satan has a powerful influence, on the music, of today.

[15:03] I believe, that is the case. And so, we need to be careful, about music, and, Satan, I believe, can intrude, in the area, of worship too. So, we ought to be, wise to this, and, aware of this.

[15:19] How are we not, to worship? Not by the flesh. Not by the desires, and mind of the flesh, not by that, that which is contrary, and dishonouring to God, and his glory.

[15:33] But rather, to please him, to honour him, to reverence him, to esteem him, to glorify him, to please God, not ourselves. Some people, corrupt worship, by man-made ideas.

[15:50] We see that, for example, in the record of the, art, and how, people engineered a cart, which was contrary, to God's directions.

[16:01] It was worship, though it was not in accord, with God's truth. So it's critical, again as I say, that, it's worship in spirit, and in truth. It's in accord, with God's directives.

[16:13] So God is seeking, worshippers still today. Amen? God is still looking for them, he's scaring the horizon, he's looking, for those who will worship him. Those who will have, no confidence in the flesh, but will worship, in the spirit, and in the truth.

[16:29] Govern, prompted, led by the Holy Spirit. Guarding against, the danger of the flesh, lest it, corrupt, and encroach, on that which should be, honouring to God, as the primary consideration.

[16:45] By him, therefore, let us offer, the sacrifice of praise to God, continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks, to his name. Hebrews 13, 15.

[16:57] Brothers and sisters, let's aim for our worship, to have that praise, that glorifying, of God's majesty, that is, continually, a praise to God, on our lips.

[17:09] It's not like, we have to, switch it off and on, that you kind of come, to a gathering, an assembly, and that's when you switch, on the, the worship button, you know, click, I'm in worship now, I'll turn it off, and I'll walk out the door.

[17:22] No, let us praise God, continually, continually, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks, to his name. So what does, biblical worship, look like?

[17:34] What does it say, about worship? How will we worship him, in eternity? You know, really, this is, this is just, worship practice, amen? This is just, worship practice, when we assemble, and gather, on this planet, getting ready, for heaven's worship.

[17:51] What's it going to look like? What will heaven be like? What will that, worship in the sphere, of heaven, be like? It's a spiritual thing, a spiritual thing, and it should stir our hearts, as we read the Psalms, as we read then, in Revelation, of heavenly worship, as the, heavenly beings gathered, as the people of God, gathered, around the throne, as we see, you know, prior to, the, the end time, in Revelation 4, we read of the, 4 and 20 elders, these 24 elders, that were worshipping, around the throne of God, casting themselves, humbly, at his feet, in Revelation 4, verse 10, we're just going to, flick through a few verses, in Revelation, and get a bit of a snapshot, of what heaven's worship, will be like, because one day, we'll be in their number, one day, we will be there, with them, Revelation 4, verse 10, through 11, it says, the 4 and 20 elders, fall down, before him, that sat, on the throne, and worship him, that liveth, forever and ever, and cast their, crowns, before the throne, saying, thou art, worthy,

[19:05] O Lord, to receive, glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast, created, all things, and for thy pleasure, they are, and were created, thou art worthy, will I, let's say that today, thou art worthy, let's say it together, thou art worthy, O Lord, worthy, to worship God, is about acknowledging, the worth of God, the value of God, the honour of God, the absolute authority, and ultimate power of God, and he is worthy, of our praise, in scripture, worship is used, across the board, we see worship, which was accorded, to idols, to material things, but we do see, worship that was, unto the true God, he alone, is worthy, of the worship, let's go on, to chapter 5, of Revelation, chapter 5, of Revelation, from verse 6,

[20:11] John records, I beheld, and lo, the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst, of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits, of God, sent forth, into all the earth, and he, the lamb, came, and took, the book, out of the right, hand of him, that sat upon the throne, and when he had taken, the book, the four beasts, and four, and twenty elders, fell down, before the lamb, having every one, of them harps, and golden vials, full of odors, which are the prayers, of the saints, and they sung, a new song, saying again, thou art worthy, let's say it again, thou art worthy, they said, thou art worthy, to take the book, to open the seals, for thou hast slain, and hast redeemed us, to God, by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made, unto us, unto our God, kings, and priests, and we shall reign, on the earth, and I beheld, and I heard, the voice of many angels, round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, can't you just picture it here, can't you just picture this scene, picture yourself there, one day,

[21:24] I beheld, and I heard, the voice, of many angels, round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and the number of them, was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb, let's say it again, worthy is the lamb, that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, and every creature, which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such, as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard us saying, blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him, that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb, forever, and ever, and the four beasts said, amen, and the four and twenty elders, fell down, and worshipped him, that liveth, forever, and ever, what a picture, what an overwhelming, atmosphere, that would have been, can you picture it today, can you just catch a glimpse, of it today, let's go to chapter 7, of Revelation, from verse 9, after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man, could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb, and verse 11, and all the angels, round about the throne, they stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne, on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God, forever, and ever, amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God, forever, and ever, it's all about him, it's all about him, all about our Lord, all about the lamb, all about, he is worthy, he is worthy, and then to Revelation 19, verse 1, after these things,

[23:52] I heard a great voice, of much people, in heaven, saying, hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord, our God, unto him, unto him, unto him, be glory, in the church, in the assembly, in our worship, we know, and enjoy, the glory of God, when we realise, the worthiness, of our God, we realise, our utter helplessness, of ourselves, we realise, our utter dependency, we realise, how we must, humble ourselves, before his great glory, and rest, and rely, upon him, to subdue our hearts, is that true adoration, where we, where we seek, his face, where we seek, his face, where we seek, his strength, you know, it says that, they that wait, upon the Lord, shall renew, their strength, they shall, mount hope, with wings, as eagles, they shall, run, and not be faint, weary, and they shall, walk, and not be faint, worship, is a spiritual thing, as we rest, on the Lord, as we wait, upon the Lord, he will strengthen, our hearts, he'll help us, to honour him, as he is due, our worship,

[25:09] Hebrews 12, says, of serving God, acceptably, with reverence, and godly fear, there's a beauty, to holiness, there's a reverence, and godly fear, we're not talking, about legalism, in the sense, of being bound, by rules, but there's a reverence, and a godly fear, that is, precious, and beautiful, beautiful, the beauty, of holiness, all our, all our life, should be worshipped, all our lives, our every waking moment, we should have, that sense of God, God with us, God is with us, Emmanuel, wherever we go, God with us, all of our life, really, connects with worship, and has that heart, that is after God, some of us put it, the only living, that is acceptable to God, is living in the Spirit, the only walk, that's acceptable to God, is walking in the Spirit, the only service, that's acceptable to God, is a serving, by the Spirit, there's the only prayer, that's acceptable to God, is that praying, in the Spirit, by his power, the only thanks, that's acceptable to God, is that, thanking, by his Spirit, the only worship, that is acceptable to God, is that worship that is by his spirit he empowers us he enables us he equips us to worship so we should worship in spirit and in truth what does it mean to worship in truth god wants our worship to be real you know in the letter of john the first letter of john chapter 3 verse 18 john says my little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth there's a sense where the love could be oh i love you just in word or tongue but it's not indeed or in truth it's the same with worship we can say oh i worship you god but in reality it's it's not real it's it's empty it's a pretense not the reality do we glorify god in our lives in our homes in our marriages god doesn't want mere lip service from you from me the lord jesus tells the son they draw near to me with their lips but their heart is far from me far from me let us not love in word or tongue but rather in deed and in truth let us worship god so that our lives are lived down as living sacrifices not lip service but heart service it comes from our innermost being it's not pretend but it's personal it's real act 17 28 it says for in him we live and move and have our being we have our being in god we're made whole in him he's the one who completes us we complete in him he's the one that it says in the church that he should have in all things have the preeminence colossians 1 18 so worship is the giving of our of our being of our love of our thinking of our lives friends let us have that heart to worship him that heart to worship him we see examples of that right through the bible just a couple of um thoughts martha and mary in john 12 they made him a supper martha served verse 3 then took mary a pound of ointment of spikenard so it was this precious ointment very costly she

[29:10] anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment so martha was busy serving which was all well and good but mary came with that costly poured out sacrifice of that anointing oil that ointment and the fragrance of her worship filled the house it's a light to in the tabernacle where the incense rose to the nostrils of god there was something tangible about the worship that was signified by these things by the fragrance in the tabernacle by the fragrance of mary's ointment and it filled the whole atmosphere uh that was the place they were and that's worship people that is worship where it fills our being it fills the atmosphere of our lives that our lives will be lives of worship lives of worship that will sing with our hearts to the lord colossians 3 verse 16 there's a sense where even our singing can be a form of teaching colossians 3 verse 16 let the word of christ dwelling you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the lord that's why it's good to get together you know we could stand down by the by the tree at home and worship god but getting together is just something special about that because the one another's there we can't do that at home it's teaching and admonishing one another now when you come to fellowship when we praise in god with these time-honored hymns of the faith with truth and and doctrine to them there's teaching to what we're singing it's not just some airy fairy um mantra it's truth we're teaching and admonishing or instructing encouraging comforting one another and likewise when we fellowship with one another there's that special bond that comes as we worship corporately so just to close psalm 100 make a joyful noise unto the lord or he lands serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the lord he is god he is he that hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations glory to god glory to god you know we are his temple today wherever we are wherever you are worship the lord be his temples be those ones that are filled with the light of his presence that you enlighten the lives of others in this world that you shine as lights that you go about and be a beaming light into the darkened places that many live in our world today worship the lord why for the lord is good he's good no matter what no matter what happens the lord is good how long is he good forever forever forever for his truth and juror to all generations god is forever his truth is forever so let us acknowledge his greatness let us worship him let's take away the emphasis from ceremony or seasons or places we don't have to go to some go on some pilgrimage to some holy place as much that as that might be a nice thing to do we don't have to go to

[33:15]  some special temple or some uh significant sacred site because each one of you is a sacred site you know we might get someone put a lamp claim on you you know you are a sacred site you are a temple you are the temples of the living god how much sacred can you get that's special isn't it you're sacred you're a sacred site bless god and worship should invade our whole lives and whatever happens at home on the job wherever we go that we're a testimony unto his grace and so people are watching you christian live right do right don't blow your testimony if you do make up for it you know let's be those shining lights that will shine ever strongly ever brighter and worship god not just when we switch it on and off as it were when we might gather together but have that life of worship that day by day by day let us offer to god continually the praise to his name acknowledging his greatness his holiness his worthiness his majesty day by day moment by moment lifetime by lifetime let's be those vessels that he can fill with his spirit and worship him truly and worship him truly in reality to know his presence his presence is not something that we go to god's presence is not something that is something we come to and then leave behind but his presence is with you he says i am with you wherever you go wherever you go god's let's recognize the value of the worthy lamb that's where it starts i'm speaking to christians today do you know the lamb john said behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sin of the world friends your only hope is the lamb of god that perfect one who died and rose again bearing our sin paying for it in full your only hope is the lamb of god today and as christians we can say what can we say worthy worthy is the lamb let's say together worthy is the lamb he's worthy for who he is for what he's done for what he's doing and what he will do yes his truth endureth and the lord is good his mercy is everlasting let us pray you